PREVIEW NOTES: 2018 DONGFENG MOTOR OPEN WUHAN, CHINA | SEPT 23 - SEPT 29, 2018 | USD 2,746,000 PREMIER 5

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WUHAN QUICK FACTS Main draw dates: Sunday - Saturday, September 23 – September 29 Singles Final: Saturday, September 29, NB 7:00pm Doubles Final: Saturday, September 29, 4:30pm Venue: Optics Valley International Tennis Centre Status: WTA Premier 5 event Staging: Tournament’s fifth year Draw sizes: 56 singles / 28 doubles teams / 32 singles qualifying Surface: Hard / Outdoors Decoturf II Total prize money: USD $2,746,000 Tennis Ball: Pro (blue cans) 2017 Singles Final: (FRA) d. (AUS) 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 6-2 2017 Doubles Final: [1] / (TPE/SUI) / d. / (JPN/CHN) 7-6(5) 3-6 10-4

PRIZE MONEY AND RANKING POINT BREAKDOWN

RANK RANK SINGLES USD $ DOUBLES USD $ POINTS POINTS Winner 503,725 900 Winner 144,010 900 Runner-Up 251,860 585 Runner-Up 72,865 585 Semifinalist 125.805 350 Semifinalist 36,060 350 Quarterfinalist 58,015 190 Quarterfinalist 18,155 190 Round of 16 28,730 105 Round of 16 9,200 105 Round of 32 14,745 60 Round of 28 4,545 1 Round of 56 7,585 1

PREVIOUS CHAMPIONS AND RUNNERS-UP

YEAR CHAMPION RUNNER-UP 2017 Caroline Garcia Ashleigh Barty 2016 Petra Kvitova Dominika Cibulkova 2015 Garbiñe Muguruza 2014 Petra Kvitova If highlighted denotes competing in 2018 Dongfeng Motor main draw

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PREVIEW NOTES: 2018 DONGFENG MOTOR WUHAN OPEN WUHAN, CHINA | SEPT 23 - SEPT 29, 2018 | USD 2,746,000 PREMIER 5

MAIN DRAW QUICK HITS (excludes qualifiers) Singles wildcards: (BLR), (USA), Samantha Stosur (AUS), (CHN), (CHN), Youngest singles player: (May 20, 1998) Oldest singles player: Samantha Stosur, 34 (March 30, 1984) Singles withdrawals: Mihaela Buzarnescu (right ankle), (foot injury) Wuhan main draw debuts: (USA), Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE), Aleksandra Krunic (SRB), Bernarda Pera (USA), Aryna Sabalenka (BLR), (BLR), (BEL)

TOURNAMENT TALKING POINTS  The entire Top 10 is action this week at the fifth edition of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, including World No.1 Simona Halep, who will play her first match since a surprise first-round exit at the US Open  Caroline Garcia, the 2017 winner, is one of two former champions in the draw, along with Petra Kvitova (2014 and 2016)  Kvitova is one of a number of players looking to seal their place at the WTA Finals in SIngapore with a deep run this week. Six places remain for the season-ending showpiece, with Kvitova, Naomi Osaka, , and Sloane Stephens separated by fewer than 375 points  Friday’s draw created several interesting storylines; former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka faces No.11 seed Julia Goerges, while 2015 runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza takes on her Wimbledon conqueror Alison Van Uytvanck  China’s best hopes Zhang Shuai and the in-form wildcard Wang Qiang have been drawn with Samantha Stosur and , respectively  One To Watch - Donna Vekic, 22, is coming off a semifinal run at Tokyo, where she upset Stephens and Garcia along the way. The Croatian, who faces CoCo Vandeweghe in the first round in Wuhan, has enjoyed her most consistent campaign to date in 2018, reaching the final at Washington DC, the fourth round at Wimbledon and registering a career-best 26 main draw wins.

TOP FOUR SEEDS PREVIOUS TOURNAMENT HISTORY PLAYER TOURNAMENT HISTORY WIN-LOSS WIN % [1] Simona Halep (ROU) SF (1): 2016 (l. Kvitova) 4-4 .500 3r (1): 2015 (l. Konta) 2r (2): 2014 (l. Muguruza), 2017 (l. Kasatkina) [2] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) SF (1): 2014 (l. Bouchard) 5-4 .556 3r (1): 2016 (l. A.Radwanska) 2r (2): 2015 (l. Schmiedlova), 2017 (l. Sakkari) [3] Angelique Kerber (GER) SF (1): 2015 (l. Muguruza) 6-4 .600 QF (1): 2014 (l. Svitolina) 3r (1): 2016 (l. Kvitova) 1r (1): 2017 (l. Garcia) [4] Caroline Garcia (FRA) WON (1): 2017 (d. Barty) 11-3 .786 QF (1): 2014 (l. Kvitova) 2r (2): 2015 (l. Vandeweghe), 2016 (l. Keys)

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PREVIEW NOTES: 2018 DONGFENG MOTOR WUHAN OPEN WUHAN, CHINA | SEPT 23 - SEPT 29, 2018 | USD 2,746,000 PREMIER 5

COUNTRY BREAKDOWN

Excluding qualifiers, a total of 26 countries and regions are represented in the main draw, led by USA with five players:

Australia (3) Ashleigh Barty, , Samantha Stosur Belarus (3) Viktoria Azarenka, Aryna Sabalenka, Aliaksandra Sasnovich Belgium (3) , , Alison Van Uytvanck China (3) Wang Qiang, Zhang Shuai, Zheng Saisai Chinese Taipei (1) Hsieh Su-Wei Croatia (1) Donna Vekic Czech Republic (3) Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova, Barbora Strycova Denmark (1) Caroline Wozniacki Estonia (1) France (3) Alizé Cornet, Caroline Garcia, Germany (2) Julia Goerges, Angelique Kerber Great Britain (1) Johanna Konta Greece (1) Maria Sakkari Hungary (1) Timea Babos Italy (1) Japan (1) Naomi Osaka Latvia (2) Jelena Ostapenko, Anastasija Sevastova Netherlands (1) Kiki Bertens Romania (1) Simona Halep Russia (2) , Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Serbia (1) Aleksandra Krunic Spain (2) Garbiñe Muguruza, Carla Suárez Navarro Slovakia (2) Dominika Cibulkova, Magdalena Rybarikova Switzerland (1) Belinda Bencic Ukraine (2) Elina Svitolina, USA (5) Danielle Collins, Madison Keys, Bernarda Pera, Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe

WTA TV – LIVE ACTION FROM WUHAN Every main draw match from Wuhan is LIVE and ON DEMAND on wtatv.com. Catch the action at home or on the go. You won’t want to miss a minute of this year’s star-studded lineup in both singles and doubles. Want to watch multiple matches at once? On WTA TV, you can watch up to four matches simultaneously via the multibox.

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